Snowmageddon

Sat Nov 29 @ 8:55 a.m.

Every April we get a big dump of snow(which melts right away), and I always say, “Why couldn’t this come in November?” This was an epic November snowfall.

Banff trailThe Live Grooming report from the Canmore Nordic Centre is back online and it indicates that Banff trail has been packed all the way to the end(5.5K). I surmise that it’s packed(not trackset) because the CNC’s trail report mentions that some natural snow trails have been “rough packed.”

The snow has almost stopped and I can see a ghostly outline of Lady MacDonald across the valley. The predicted high for today is -18°C.  It’s -22 right now. I’ll be spending most of the day digging my way out(I have the longest driveway in Canmore), and creating some room for Tessa to run in the back yard.

Lake Louise road cam Nov 29 at 8.52 a.m.

Lake Louise road cam Nov 29 at 8.52 a.m.

From Jeff’s(both of them) report yesterday, I am speculating that the trails at Lake Louise and Kananaskis village will be worked on through the weekend.  It’s possible the Banff tracksetter will also be out. I can’t wait to ski Goat creek! Highway #742 Spray Lakes Road is currently closed from Grassi Lakes to Goat Pond for avalanche control.

I read on Twitter that West Bragg Creek received 18 cm of snow.

Someone who drove into Peter Lougheed Prov Park yesterday sent me a report this morning: “I have not checked anything this morn but the roads were brutal last night and I hope no one will be on the roads unless they have to until at least this afternoon (if this snow has mostly abated).”

The webcams are a good place to observe road conditions. Conditions around Lake Louise still look a bit sketchy, but at least the blowing snow has abated.

Weather tabWe Now Have Weather!

I’ve thought about it since the first day I created this blog, but Jason’s prompting finally pushed me over the edge, and I’ve added a weather tab onto the Main Menu. There are so many options when it comes to weather forecasts that I always thought it best to let everyone choose their own poison.

Click on the Resources tab for more good info.

Click on the Resources tab for more good info.

A few days ago Alf brought the SnowForecast.com to my attention and I couldn’t hold back any longer. The SnowForecast.com was fairly accurate with their predictions for this recent snowfall and the locations/elevations are quite relevant to cross-country skiers. My life’s work is now finished 🙂

If you’re new to this blog, make sure you check the “Resources” tab on the Main Menu. You’ll find lots of good information there.

This blog received 3633 views yesterday. An average day in the winter is around 2300.

5 Comments:

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  1. Hi Jeff,

    There are two other places for decent weather reports. But are user driven so you can get slightly different reports. Both use personal weather station to feed current weather onto the maps. Canmore and Banff are lightly covered. Would be nice to get some locals out there sharing weather station data.

    Openweathermap is nice because it uses openstreetmaps. User driven mapping. Ski trails can be added and the maps can be used on garmin devices.

    http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=Canmore

    and http://openweathermap.org

  2. Two waxless hacks came out of Ribbon Creek by headlamp last evening, after extending the hotel guests showshoe trails (so deep we tracked on top of showshoe trails – hah! nice change) from the hockey rink trailhead up to the kovach/ribbon-link corner, by way of… meadow? methinks.

  3. Just a reminder that while the new weather links go to the links that were suggested by Alf (snow-forecast.com), if you forget the hyphen (as in your post, Bob), you will go to a completely different site (snowforecast.com).
    As a contrast, here is the ‘no-hyphen’ site forecast for Nakiska;

    http://www.snowforecast.com/resorts/4100-nakiska-ski-resort

    I hope that all of SkierBob’s Alberta/BC readers get out to enjoy the new snow.

  4. According to CTV’s David Spence and Environment Canada, Kananskis Village got 79 cm!

    • I was just there and I can vouch for all of that and more. The parking lots have not been plowed anywhere. It is almost impossible to even get to trailheads let alone ski. Ribbon Creek parking lot has 80cm of unplowed snow,

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